Railway car retarder



Feb. 16, 1932. L. F. HOWARD RAILWAY GAR RETARDER Filed July 10, 1928 INVENTOR'.

HOIIYQFQ Patented Feb. 16, 1932 barren stares.

mnvrunn r. HOWARD, onfiiaeniirodndsonoridiz, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR ro ,THE

on swIssvALn, PENNSYLVANIA, ,A 'ooR- UNION SWITCH & SIGNAL COMPANY,

FOBATION OF PENNSYLVANIA RAILWAY can. RETARDER- Application filed July. 10,

My invention relates to railway car retarders ot the type involving brakebeams located in the trackway and movable into engagement with the wheels of a car for the purpose of retarding the motion vof the car.

One feature of my invention is the provis ion of a car retarder of this type in which the brake beam is made up of a series of nonarticulated sections. 1

I will describe one form of car retarder embodying my inventiomand will then point out the novel features thereofin claims.

The accompanying drawing is a plan view showing one rail of a railway track having associated therewith one form of car retarder embodying my invention.

Referring to the drawing, the reference character 1 designates a track rail along which cars normally move in the directicn indicated by the arrow. Located on one side of this rail is a brake beam made up of a series of sect-ions 6 6 6, etc.; and located on the other side of the rail is another brake beam made up of a series of sections 7, 7 7

Each brake beam section is provided with the usual wheel-engaging shoe 5. Associated with each section of each brake beam are a plurality of springs G, for biasing the section toward the wheels of a car on the track 1. As here shown, one end of each spring is pivotally attached to the brake beam section, and the other end is pivotally fixed to a bar 70 by means of an abutment D. Each bar 70 is rigidly attached to the track ties, which are not shown in the drawing. The axis of each spring (3 is disposed at an angle less than 90 to the track rail, so that longitudinal motion of the brake beam sections in lines parallel with the track rail will result in movement of these sections toward and away from the rail, that is, into closed and open positions of the retarder. The brake beam sections may be moved longitudinally by any suitable means, such, for example, as the mechanism shown and described in application for Letters Patent of the United States, filed by W. C. -McWhirter, April 29, 1927, Serial No.. 187 ,525, which became Patent No. 1,744,833. This operating mechanism is 1928. Serial int'zaisza.

omitted from the drawing because it forms no part of my invention. r The sections of'eachbrake beam are-nonarticulated, that is, there' is no" mechanical connection between adjacent sections, and thereis no'provision for movement of onesection due to movement of an adj oining section. Each sect on, however, is so disposed that its enter ng end is farther from the track rail than its'leavingend, although the angle whlch each SGCtlOl'l makes with the track rail is exaggerated in the drawing to more clearly illustrate this-feature of my invention. The parts are so adj ustedthat when theretarder is closed, an'da car wheel passes through a given section, the, car --wheel. will compress the spring G at the entering end of the section by'only a relativelyismall"amount,- but will compress the spring at the leaving end of the section by a considerably greater amount,

the amount of compression ofthe successive springs progressively: increasing 'as the car passes through the section. Furthermore, the springs are so designed or adjusted that substantially the same pressure is exerted against the carwheel at all points in the section, and for this purposethe pressure per unit of compression of the spring by the car wheels at the creases to a minimum for thespring atthe proaches theleavingjend of the section, theleavmg end is pushed back by the wheels, so

that as the wheel leaves. the section the leaving end is practically in-alignment with the enteringlend of the next succeeding section. This makes'it unnecessary to articulate the sections or to provide means for movingthe entering end oi the. section away from the track rail while a caroccupies the leaving end of the next sectionlin the rear. I Y

Although I have herein shown andldescribed only one form of retarder embodying my invention, it is understood that various i changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and sccipe of my invention.

aving thus described my invention, what I claim is: v g

1.- A railway car retarder comprising a series of non-articulated brake beam sections located v beside a track rail and movable towards and away from the rail to closed and open positions, and springs for each section for biasing the section towards the rails, the parts being so designed that when the retarder is closed the entering endof each section is farther from the rail than the. leaving end, and said springs being so proportioned and adjusted that when the retarder is closed and a car-passes through the retarder the relatively small compression of the spring at LEMUEL F. How'imn the, entering end of each, section causes sub stantially the same pressure against the wheel as the relatively large compression of the spring at the leaving end.

2. A railway car retarder comprising a series of non-articulated brake beam sections located beside a track rail and movable towards and away vfrom the'rail to closed and open positions, and springs for each section for biasing the sectiontowards the rails, the

parts being so designed that when the. re} tarder isclosedthe entering end of each section is farther from the rail than the leaving end, and the ch'aracteristicsof the springs associated with each section being progressive 1y varied so that when the retarder is closed the pressure exerted onv a car wheel by each section is substantially'the same at all points in the section.

8. A railway car retarder comprising a series of non-articulated brakebeam' sections located beside a track rail and movable towards and away from the rail to closed and open positions, and springs for'each section tor'biasing the section towards the rails, theparts being so designed that when the retarder is closedthe entering end of each section is farther from the rail than the leaving end, and the pressure per unit ofcompression of the springs being progressively decreased from the entering to the leaving end of each section, so that when. the retarder is closed the pressure exerted on a car wheel is substantially the same at all points in each section. 1' l A. A railway car retarder comprising two series of oppositelydisposed non-\articulated brake beam sections located one on each side of a trackrail and each section movable toward and away from the rail to closed and open positions, and springs for each section for urging the section towards the rail, the

parts being so designed that when the re- 

